Hardball Tactics in Negotiation

Understanding hardball tactics will make you aware of the users

Hardball tactics can backfire.

They are offensive and motivate revenge.

Many negotiators consider these tactics out of bounds for any

situation.

Tactic

Main Idea

Advantage

GoodCop /BadCop

a. Bad cop plays the role

of the bad guy who takestough measures (threats,intimidation) against thetargeted partyb. Bad cop leaves thenegotiation table for theGood cop to come andoffer the targeted party aneasy way out of thesituationc. The easy way outoption is meant for thetargeted party to yield tothe teams demands

to give in due to emotional

rather than objective

A. Similar to intimidationtacticsb. being aggressive inestablishing your positionand attacking the otherpartys position e.g.i. Asking for best offer earlyin the negotiationii. Getting the other partyto explain his position byjustifying item by itemc. Getting the other partyto make many concessionsDealing with AggressiveBehavior Stop the negotiation todiscuss the process itself Using a team ofnegotiators to negotiatewith the aggressive party